


tony the science guy

by starkly



Series: you've been thunderstruck [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hospital, M/M, Pre-Slash, Tony Stark is Good With Kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:15:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28209663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkly/pseuds/starkly
Summary: Thor sees some rough stuff as a nurse in a pediatric ward. He’s deeply invested in his work and wouldn’t choose to do anything else, but it can be hard to get through the day sometimes. Which is why he welcomes any bit of joy the kids can get, even if those moments come from the world’s most annoying kids' entertainment scientist.
Relationships: Tony Stark/Thor
Series: you've been thunderstruck [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2064666
Comments: 1
Kudos: 56





	tony the science guy

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for NaNoWriMo 2020 and [posted here](https://aleator.tumblr.com/post/634101203752632320) on my tumblr writing blog. This fic was proofread before being uploaded here but is otherwise unchanged.
> 
> Prompts taken from the AU-gust 2020 challenge list on Twitter. Day Six: Hospital AU.

Thor sees some rough stuff as a nurse in a pediatric ward. He’s deeply invested in his work and wouldn’t choose to do anything else, but it can be hard to get through the day sometimes. Which is why he welcomes any bit of joy the kids can get, even if those moments come from the world’s most annoying kids' entertainment scientist.

Thor will say one nice thing about Tony Stark--he knows how to keep the kids entertained.

“And that, kids, is why you measure out your chemicals before doing science,” the man in question says somewhat frantically, hurriedly grabbing the rest of his stuff and pulling everything away from the smoking beaker in the middle of the table. The children all cheer and clap as some kind of yellow foam gurgles and leaks out over the rim of the beaker, making its way down the glass and onto the table.

Thor’s not sure why management keeps inviting Stark back, except that he thinks the kids might riot if they told them their favorite pal Tony wasn’t allowed back.

“I should, uh, clean this,” Stark’s saying, looking around for something to wipe up the mess. “Who wants to play with the Van de Graaff generator while I do that?”

There’s no shortage of volunteers, so Thor goes over and says, “Okay, we can all take turns. Meredith?”

He helps the little girl closest to the generator go up and put her hand on the metal dome, giving it a few moments before the individual strands of her hair start to stand up from the static electricity. Thor steps back and snaps a pic with his phone, knowing all the kids are going to want photos of their escapades. The smile on Meredith’s face when he shows her the photo makes all this trouble worth it.

Once the demonstration is finally over and Stark’s cleaned up his failed experiment, the children are moved on to their next appointments, leaving Thor to deal with their blundering scientist.

“The children liked the show,” he says, the closest Stark will probably get to praise from him.

Stark certainly looks like he’s gotten the highest praise indeed.

“I’ll have to fine-tune that mixture. It definitely wasn’t supposed to turn yellow,” he says, like the foam and smoke were supposed to happen. Maybe they were. Stark likes to show off “experiments” that have no purpose other than to make stuff react with each other.

“Perhaps next time less things that could potentially explode?” Thor suggests as politely as he can. “We are in a hospital.”

“Aw, but where’s the fun in that?” Stark says with a cheeky grin.

Despite Stark’s teasing, the next time he comes in for a presentation there’s less explosive messes, for which Thor is begrudgingly grateful. The children laugh and cheer and Thor’s just happy to see them happy.

This time when the presentation is over, Meredith comes over to Thor and quietly asks if she can talk to Mr. Stark. Thor says she can have a few minutes and brings her over to where Stark is packing up his equipment, and she politely asks if she can ask him some questions.

“Sure thing, honeybug,” Stark says, crouching down to be on her level while they talk.

Thor lingers for a moment, watching over them, then takes a few steps back so he can keep an eye on them without intruding. After a minute, Jane comes over to take Meredith back to her room, but she stops beside Thor and studies Meredith and Stark.

“You’re too hard on him,” she says quietly, glancing up at Thor. “Did you know he has a PhD in engineering? He went to MIT.”

Thor had not known that, and he glances over at Jane. He’s definitely complained about Stark’s science show to her before, but he didn’t think she remembered his petty complaints.

Jane nods. “He could be doing pretty much anything he wants, but he does children’s science presentations.”

“Some might call that a waste.”

“Some might call you dropping out of your surgical residency to become a nurse a waste.”

Frowning, Thor turns away from Jane. “That’s different.”

“And Tony’s not? He probably gave up some cushy job to teach kids how magnets work.”

Thor doesn’t say anything, watching Stark shake Meredith’s hand and then stand up.

“All right, Miss Foster’s here to take you where you gotta go next, kiddo,” Stark’s saying, rummaging through a side pocket on one of his bags. “But if you have any more questions, ask Mr. Odinson, okay? He can get the answers for you.”

While Thor stands there wondering why Stark thinks he can answer any apparent science questions Meredith might have, Stark emerges from his search with two small items, one which he hands straight to Meredith. It’s a circular sticker that reads “I’m a Scientist!” with a picture of a microscope on it, and she immediately peels off the backing and puts the sticker on her shirt.

“Thank you, Mr. Stark,” she says, eyes wide with awe. Jane says goodbye to Stark and leads Meredith away, glancing back at Thor once before the two of them disappear out the door.

“This one’s for you,” Stark says, drawing Thor’s attention back to him.

He looks down to see a business card that Stark flips over and hastily scrawls on the back of. Then he hands it to Thor and Thor can’t do anything but take it, staring down at what he assumes is Stark’s phone number.

“So you can message me with any questions Meredith has,” Stark says earnestly, and for a moment Thor thinks that’s it, but then Stark grins and winks at him. “Or if you’ve got any questions for me. They don’t even have to be science related.”

Thor scoffs, rolling his eyes, but he carefully tucks the card into his pocket for safekeeping. “Same time next month, Mr. Stark?”

“Same as always. And hey, call me Tony.”

Thor hesitates a moment, then says, “Only if you refrain from exploding anything on your next visit.”

Looking surprised, Stark lets out a laugh that makes Thor smile despite himself. “It’s a deal.”


End file.
